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Usabah Sambah Sacred Ceremonial

A unique community exists in the small village of Tenganan in Bali. Known as “Bali Aga“, meaning the true Bali, they are believed to be the indigenous tribe of the island and have existed long before the waves of migration of Java. Traditions are very old and are not so restricted to influences brought by Javanese migrants. Distinctive, to say the least.

Every year in the 11th month on the Balinese calendar or the fifth month according to the Bali Aga’s ancient calendar, the people of Tenganan conduct an ancestral ritual that lasts a whole month, the Usaba Sambah ceremony. Intended as a month-long process of re-balancing all life elements and experiences from the passing year, the ceremony consists of a series of smaller rites that involve various components of the community from spiritual leaders to old men and young men to women and even children. It as a practice observed by the entire population of Tenganan in great joy.

The ritual started with a procession to the temple observed by all villagers wearing beautiful woven fabric known as ‘grinsing‘. After a solemn prayer and a series of offerings made in the temple, the Pandan War commenced as a tribute to honor the ancestors also the god of war, Indra. A pair of young men began to fight, aiming a precise rip at each others’s body with the Pandan leaves while truing to protect themselves with the rattan shields. A referee timed the fight and ensured that each only lasted for about one minute or until one of they young men had enough and surrendered, whichever happened first. Then the next pair of fighters had their turn and so on for the next three hours.